Low Noise Rotors for the Whisper Drone

Annular Innovation has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for its innovative Whisper Drone. This new kind of machine, instead of the typical hive-like sound of drones, produces the whoosh of air passing through a vent.

“Hello Kickstarter community. My name is Derek Schwartz, founder of Annular Innovation, and I believe I have built a small remote-controlled prototype of what qualifies as a new kind of aircraft. What makes this aircraft special is the rotor it utilizes to produce the lift force necessary for flight. Instead of a propeller, it uses a ring-like rotor with tall vanes extending from the surface. The result is a craft which I think is counter-intuitive in that it doesn’t seem like it should fly, but it does. For this project, I would like to build a better version, and then send it out to backers as a reward tier.

The hope being that when it’s scaled up in size, this approach could be used to create large, quiet craft. Heavy-lift delivery drones could be made without generating helicopter-like noise, air taxis might be constructed without producing objections from nearby communities, and the buzzing noise pollution caused by airplane propellers could be suppressed.”